Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli grilled Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Ghanashyam Bhusal over the unavailability of chemical fertilizers during peak farming season.

Sharada Prasad Adhikari, owner of the house in which Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ resides, had secured the tender for this season. However, he has not been able to provide fertilizers yet as per the contract. This has increased the farmers’ ire against the government.

The condition has been dismal enough to force the prime minister himself to request his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, to help Nepal in the fertilizer case, which she consented. As the consignment from Bangladesh is also being late for delivery, Prime Minister Oli has vented his anger at Bhusal.

The Prime Minister questioned about the developments as to why the fertilizers had not arrived and who would deliver it. He inquired about the person responsible for the whole chaos. Minister Bhusal’s reply that it could take two more months irked him more. The minister informed that chemical fertilizers would not be available to the farmers this paddy season. The atmosphere became stifling for minister Bhusal as the prime minister kept demanding clarifications.

Dissatisfied, PM Oli inquired if the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies could import fertilizer from Bangladesh. Minister Bhusal objected to it. He was defiant that the Ministry of Agriculture could perform the task, albeit late.                                                                                                                                  It may be noted that Bhusal had condemned Prime Minister Oli’s course of action before joining the government and commented that the government was not following Communist ideology. He had drawn attention in the beginning, advocating for a socialist agriculture system. However, the inability of the ministry to provide fertilizers to the farmers in the peak farming season has turned the tables.